Net Worth

Before his appointment as the CS, Article 152 of the Kenyan Constitution requires candidates to undergo a rigorous vetting process by the National Assembly on their qualifications, work record, temperament, and policy preferences.

One of the questions posed by parliamentarians was about his financial background, and CS Mucheru disclosed that he is worth Ksh500 million with Ksh267 million in unearned income. How did he make over Ksh0.5 billion?

CS Mucheru is an award-winning tech evangelist and investor. He studied at Lenana School and graduated with a high school diploma in 1988. He was later enrolled at London’s City University and graduated in 1993 with BSc in Economics and Computer Science.

Also Read: CS James Macharia Biography, Education, Career, Cabinet, Projects, Wife & Children

Work

He worked at Internet Solutions from 1997 to 1999 as a webmaster and rose to a senior role in charge of infrastructure developments. His breakthrough came in 2019 when he co-founded Wananchi Online, IT services and consulting company, alongside Njeri Rionge.

Wananchi Online upscaled internet connectivity in Kenya by providing affordable services to individuals and corporates. Mucheru had a roaring success at the company, from starting as a Chief Technology Officer to becoming Chief Executive Officer in an enterprise that owns Zuku digital TV service. The company traded its 50 percent share to Emerging Capital Partners (ECP) at a cost of Ksh2 billion in 2009.

With vast technology expertise, Mucheru has the tools to hit the ground running. In 2007, he was onboarded as Google’s Sub-Saharan Africa ambassador and spearheaded several pilot explorations, strategies, and business operations. He was promoted to Regional Lead for Sub Saharan Africa in 2009. Between 2012 to 2015, he was the Regional Lead for Africa.

Mucheru has a promising career. He has been a board member of the M-Pesa Foundation and the digital foreign exchange and payment platform BitPesa.

Also, the bank CEOs’ long-term incentives compensation was partially offset by smaller bonuses. Before the pandemic struck in 2019, they received bonuses amounting to Ksh593.1 million, but it was reduced to Ksh317.9 million owing to the ailing economy that witnessed a shoot in loan defaulters and inconsistent cash flow.

But the financial crisis is in recovery, and the latest data from the banks indicate that they all received a boost in total direct compensation as their bonuses rose from Ksh46.9 million to a soaring Ksh364.8 million.

WoK takes a look at the highest-paid bank CEOs in the 2022 data report.

Gideon Muriuki – Co-op Bank CEO

Gideon Muriuki is Kenya’s highest-paid bank CEO, leading the Cooperative Bank of Kenya. He has a tenure that spans over a decade since he was appointed in 2001 when the bank was on a loss of Ksh2.3 billion to record a profit of over Ksh20 billion in 2021.

Muriuki received a direct compensation totaling Ksh397.1 million, a 19.74 million increase after it was slashed to Ksh377.36 million in the pre-pandemic stretch. His gross salary is Ksh10.89 million per month or Ksh130.7 million annually, alongside a bonus of Ksh266.4 million.

He owns a 1.75 percent stake at Co-op Bank, and he is entitled to a dividend payout of Ksh102.53 million when calculated on a Ksh1 price per share.

Co-op Bank registered a profit of Ksh16.5 billion in the year ended December 2021. This is a 53 percent increase compared to the pre-pandemic earnings. The lender closed the period 2021 with a total of Ksh536.9 billion asset base.

James Mwangi – Equity Bank CEO

James Mwangi of Equity Group Holdings PLC is a career banker with a vast experience spanning over thirty years. He has led Equity Bank since his designation in 1991 and has managed to accrue a total asset base of over Ksh1 trillion, and he has made the lender the bank with the largest deposits.

His payment was Ksh278.53 million but was dropped to Ksh143.02 million to shore up the financial shortfalls caused by the pandemic, but he received ksh194.6 million as bonuses from the Equity pension scheme to which he’s the biggest contributor since its inception.

He received a cash bonus of Ksh42.15 million, and his salary was hiked from Ksh56.73 million to Ksh78 million, making him the second-highest-paid CEO after Co-op Bank’s Muriuki, who takes home a hefty Ksh130.7 million annually.

The rise in his salary is attributed to Equity Bank’s financial successes as it made a 98 percent profit of Ksh39.17 billion.

Mwangi is set to receive a payment of Ksh383.4 million in dividends as he owns a 3.4 percent stake in the lender, which announced a trade of Ksh3 per share.

Also Read: Learning Institutions Attended By The Highest Paid CEOs In Kenya

Jeremy Awori – Absa Bank CEO

In 2013, Jeremy Awori was ‘poached’ from the CEO position at Standard Chartered Tanzania to Kenya’s Absa (formerly Barclays Bank).

The pre-pandemic era was a bad year for the lender, which recorded losses in many of its investments and cash channels that saw a stop in its sharing of bonuses and a huge cuts in employer’s salaries, among them; CEO Awori. It recorded a loss in its net proceeds, which dropped by 43.8 percent to Ksh4.1 billion.

With the suspension of bonuses, Awori received Ksh83.31 million annually. But in the financial year that just ended with a reinvigorated economy, he received a Ksh23 million bonus pay that saw his direct compensation rise to Ksh106.78 million.

Absa bank Group boasts an asset base of Ksh428 billion.

Joshua Oigara – KCB Bank CEO

Interestingly, when the earnings of KCB Group’s CEO Joshua Oigara are combined with that of Co-op Bank’s Gideon Muriuki, it adds up to Ksh765.6 million, 54.7 percent of the total amount of Ksh1.4 billion earned by the top 10 bank CEOs in Kenya.

While Oigara’s base salary remained flat at Ksh76.4 million, his direct compensation, inclusive of bonuses, rose by 217 percent to a tune of Ksh368.5 million. He also received an insurance cover worth Ksh1.6 million up from Ksh300,000.

However, according to policies by the lender, the CEO receives 75 percent of the Ksh241.1 million bonus and receives the remaining 25 percent on merit performance.

“Executive directors are entitled to performance-based bonus pay. According to the bonus policy, 75 percent of the approved bonus is paid within 12 months after the year-end,” says KCB in its annual report.

KCB Group made a profit of Ksh34.2 billion in the fiscal year 2021.

John Gachora – NCBA Bank CEO

NCBA Bank is one of the top-tier banks in Kenya, with John Gachora as its managing director. It registered an almost double profit in the financial year 2021 from Ksh4.6 billion to Ksh10.2 billion.

The good performance was catapulted by enhanced banking operations by customers whose deposits amount to Ksh469.9 million from Ksh421.5 billion. The lender also earned significant cash from its investments in unit trusts and other high-interest securities.

The CEO, Gachora, takes home Ksh65.01 million as basic pay and a Ksh13 million bonus.

Kariuki Ngari – Standard Chartered Bank CEO

Kariuki Ngari is the CEO of Standard Chartered Kenya Bank since 2019. He is a seasoned financial professional who prior to his appointment as the SC lead, worked at Standard Chartered Singapore.

In 2020, his payment was cut back to Ksh90.64 million to reflect the financial constraints caused by the pandemic, but it surged by 27.5 percent to Ksh115.63 million, coupled with a Ksh35.94 million bonus.

Kariuki receives an annual pay of Ksh45.37 million, which translates to around Ksh3.78 million per month exclusive of taxes.

In an interview with Buzz Central, she recounted that a prominent business person who happened to be her lover booked a flight from Nairobi to the coastal city for her and a friend and prearranged their stay at the high-end hotel with a promise of joining them after a few days but failed to turn up. She pointed out that the boyfriend paid the bill for some days but was unable to clear the balance on grounds that his businesses were not going well.

When asked why he failed to mention him in the court case despite him being the ‘perpetrator’ in the awful events that had befallen her, she said, “I am a good person, and also, the person is a renowned businessman with connections. He can kill me. I could disappear only because of Ksh208,000.”

She said that the lover bailed her out and made an agreement with English Marina Hotel that led to their discharge. He then cleared the unpaid dues after six months.

Pendo is also a popular actor famed for her role in the reality show Nairobi Diaries. Here are some insights into her life:

Family

She was born in a polygamous family that has thirteen members. Her parents divorced when she was 5 and moved to new relationships where they got other children. Pendo says they were taught to love each other, and the siblings are in a good relationship despite being born to separate parents.

Education

Pendo attended St. Mary’s School in Nairobi for her primary school education but later moved to Kakamega Hill School, where she completed her 8th grade, sat for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and posted impressive results. She received calling letters from Kenya High School and Lugulu Girls High School.

At first, her parents had opted for her enrollment at Lugulu Girls High School, but she fell sick of intestinal obstruction – a gastrointestinal condition in which digested material is prevented from passing normally through the bowel due to blocked intestines. She underwent two major surgeries, and this forced her to be matriculated at Kenya High School for close monitoring, owing to its proximity to her home in Nairobi.

Pendo sat for her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) and joined the University of Nairobi to pursue a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) but dropped out after two years because ‘education is not her type.’

“I couldn’t manage. I am a good creative, but when it comes to books and reading, no.” She stated.

Career

Pendo is an actress and a singer. She earned significant recognition when she made appearances as a cast member in the Kenyan reality TV show Nairobi Diaries, which premiered on December 14, 2015, on K24 TV. Nairobi Diaries showcased the lavish lifestyle of socialites, and she starred alongside celebrities like Noti Flow, Vera Sidika, and fashion stylist Silvia Njoki. Unfortunately, the show ended its run in 2018 after its renewal hit a snag on reports that the casts were not adequately compensated.

She is a multifaceted woman with a set of talents. With no job but utmost creativity, Pendo had the tools to hit the ground running. She turned to music, and she has registered immense success. She released an extended play that has five songs (Tease Me, Sugar & Spice, Namwamini, Ting Along, and Chini) dubbed ‘Illusion’ on April 15, 2022.

Dating Life

The reality star turned musician is currently dating an undisclosed man. But before her current relationship, Pendo had found love in hopeless situations with several men with whom things did not work out at all.

The first one is Luwi Capello, a fellow Nairobi Diaries actor. The duo was engaged in a romantic entanglement for the better part of 2016 but he decided to call it quits in 2018 with claims that Pendo was fake and was not committed in the relationship.

In October 2018, the controversial socialite made headlines after her close friend, Mishi Dora, shared a video of her and her new lover Joseph Kner at an engagement party. But hell broke loose for her after he fled while she was planning their wedding. The ‘mzungu’ boyfriend stated that he was acting and refuted his relationship with Pendo.

“When he was leaving I was planning our wedding. I had even bought a gown. He said that we were acting yet I had even paid for the engagement party with my own money.” She said.